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You may add the Holy Father as the latest outspoken advocate for reforming and strengthening regulations in the world's capital markets.

Pope Benedict XVI, dressed in flowing white robes and speaking from a 17th century altar—a tall, gilded canopy that sits above the ancient grave of St. Peter—decried what he sees as a manipulation of the world's poor. "The world is sadly marked by hotbeds of tension and conflict caused by growing instances of inequality between rich and poor," the pope said, "by the prevalence of a selfish and individualistic mindset which also finds expression in an unregulated financial capitalism."

The remarks came in the pope's New Year's Eve Mass, in which the 85-year-old pontiff implored congregants to opt for peace in the upcoming year. "A new year is like a trip. With the light and the grace of God, may it be the start of a path to peace for every person, every family, every country and for the entire world," Benedict XVI said after the homily, from a window overlooking St. Peter's Square.

So, the pope joins a list of other influential world leaders who support increased financial oversight. If you consider the year we just had, it's not too great a surprise that the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics made this comment. 2012 brought a 12-month span in which major banks like UBS and Barclays admitted to manipulating key interests rates that dictate the prices of many prosaic financial items, and HSBC admitted to laundering the money of drug kingpins and despots. And we're not even a decade removed from the financial crisis, where it seemed that institutions of all stripes piled into the sale and securitization of faulty mortgages—the SEC has investigated a number businesses, from Goldman Sachs to Bank of America.

First the SEC, and now the Holy See would like the world's bankers to behave better.